Writing and Silence

I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged in the act of writing. There’s something thick about this silence, nothing but the muffled voices of people outside in the snow, the hum of the computer in the corner, the odd cough. Each of us is travelling, lost in our own world and yet contributing to each other’s writing by signing up to the power of the silence. We affirm to one another as we write in this companionable silence, our hands moving across the blank page, that this matters, is important, can bring about change. The knowledge contained in each of our writing is unique to us and us only. But we co-construct it by committing to creating something not previously seen. How this happens is a mystery. In this way writing is similar to praying and singing in the company of…